Stand up for your rights is more something that comes to mind when I think of Jamaica, and not Jamaican cuisine. While I used to eat dough dumplings in the late 70″s (with curry), its been a long time since I tried it. It’s just one of those foods influenced by the Chinese immigrants to Jamaica. They were Hakkas unlike other Chinese, the Hakkas are not named after a geographical region.

As its written, Jamaican cuisine has spread with emigrations, especially during the 20th century despite some important concoctions such as escabeche a vinegar marinade carried by the Spanish Hebrews.

Believe it or not, and this is what my research shows, Hebrews from Spain and Portugal first came to the island during the Spanish occupation of the Island, 1494-1655. To conceal their identity they referred to themselves as “Portuguese” or “Spanish” and practiced their religion secretly and attained full political rights in 1831. The status of British citizenship enabled ownership of property by the Jews and the rest is history.

Yaad means the yard so this vendor sells “Yaad Food” and he’s rad!